


Giants And Goblins And Orcs, Oh My!

by FantasticallyTragical



Series: An Extra Burglar [4]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 01:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17416196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasticallyTragical/pseuds/FantasticallyTragical
Summary: In which everything goes to shit only eight days out of Imladris.





	Giants And Goblins And Orcs, Oh My!

The rain starts on their eighth day out of Imladris, while they're high in the mountains. 

“Look out!!!” Dwalin roars, and Fili grabs Cassia and pulls her back against the rock face.

“This is no thunderstorm!” Balin calls, “it's a thunderbattle!!! Look!” 

Cassia can only gape as a massive stone giant appears between lightning flashes, tearing a massive boulder from a mountaintop and hurling it toward them.

Bofur steps forward in awe, staring, and Cassia's heart catches in her throat. Kili yanks him back under cover at Thorin's distant shout, and then, it seems like the whole mountain  _ lurches _ . Fili grabs her around the waist, and Bilbo stumbles away from her. A crack in the stone widens between them and Cassia cries out his name.

“Kili!” Fili shouts, reaching out to his brother, still holding her with one arm, “grab my hand!” But it's no use, and he and Cassia watch in horror as their brothers are swept up and away from them. 

The stone giant slams against the next mountain and Cassia watches through the rain as that half of the company scrambles to safety. She doesn't know if her brother is safe, because the world is tilting and swinging and maybe, this is how she dies. She can't even scream, and for some odd, absurd reason, it flashes through her mind in perfect clarity that she is utterly, hopelessly, and completely in love with Fili, and if she dies, she'll never be able to tell him. The next thing she knows, they're rushing towards a solid rock wall and Fili's shoving her behind him. They tumble on to solid ground that isn't walking or fighting or part of a giant, and part of Cassia's pack must be lodged in the stone of the giant they were on because she's dragged back and away, Fili's shout ringing in her ears. She has the presence of mind to yank her arms out of the straps and catch hold of the ledge as she falls. And for several long seconds, she's hanging there, clinging to slippery rock with nothing but air beneath her toes. Then Thorin's dropping down beside her and practically throwing her back up to safety, into Fili's arms.

“I thought I'd lost you,” the blonde says, holding her tightly. His hands tremble slightly and Cassia curls her fingers into the fur of his coat, quite reluctant to ever let go. 

“She's been lost ever since she left home,” Thorin says contemptuously. He glances at Bilbo. “The both of them have. They never should have come. They have no place amongst us.” He brushes past Bilbo, pushing him against the rock. 

Cassia's brother makes a face he only reserves for the rudest of relatives and squeezes Cassia's shoulder.

“He's doesn't mean that,” Fili says, not really sounding like  _ he _ means it. “He's just worried.”

“He's not completely wrong,” Cassia mumbles, but Fili doesn't hear her.

 

They find a cave and all stumble in, thankful to be out if the pouring rain.

Cassia sighs sadly and squeezes water out of her curls. “I a-am v-er-ery damp,” she shivers sadly, flicking water off her fingers. Her sodden hair sticks to her forehead and ears.

Fili laughs and gives his hair the same treatment. All around them the rest of the company does similar, Dwalin shakes rain out of his moustache like a dog, Bofur dumps a good pint of water out of his hat, and Bilbo squeezes out his coattails. 

“I l-lost my pack,” Cassia says sadly. “It ha-had all my clo-clothes in it. And my blanket. And my snacks.” She shivers as she pulls off her cloak and wrings it out. It's the one she uses to do errands in the rain back in the Shire and has kept her clothes mostly dry. Her sleeves have taken a good soaking, though. She can't help but shiver harder in the cold air. Fili drapes his coat around her shoulders.

“Here. This will keep you warm. The outside is quite wet but the inside is dry.”

“F-fili,” she says, teeth chattering, “I c-can't t-t-take this-s-s.”

“I'll be fine. Dwarves run hot.”

“P-p-please take it-t-t back. I'm quite a-alr-right.”

“You don't make a very convincing argument shaking like that,” he says, taking her cloak from her and draping it over a rock to dry. “Just put your arms in the sleeves. You'll warm up faster.”

“My sh-shirtsl-l-leeves are all w-wet, though. I h-h-hate wet sl-leeves. I'm going t-t-to take m-my shir-irt off.” 

With that, she turns her back to him, yanks her tunic up over her head, and pulls his coat back on over her chemise and corset. 

“M-much be-better,” she sighs, wrapping the edges tight around herself and dropping her wet shirt next to her cloak to dry.

 

“My clothes are dry now,” Cassia says, handing Fili back his coat and pulling on her shirt and cloak. He stays close to her, an arm around her shoulders when they lay down to sleep.

“You can use my blanket tonight,” he says.

“Oh, Fili, I couldn't! Won't you get cold?”

He shakes his head. “As I said, we dwarves run hot. I don't want you to catch a cold.” He unfolds his blue blanket and wraps it around her tightly, before pulling her close to his chest. He's awfully warm and Cassia snuggles closer, nuzzling her frigid nose against the fur of his coat as the last of her shivers finally subside.

“Good night,” she murmurs, already dozing.

“Good night,” he replies.

 

Bilbo packs his bag as quietly as possible and slips it on his back, creeping around the sleeping dwarves to where his sister is curled in Fili's arms. He pauses, wondering how to wake her without alerting the dwarf and then get her away without her kicking up a fuss. His thoughts are interrupted by Bofur.

“Where do you think you're going?” he asks. Bilbo turns.

“Back to Rivendell. My sister, too.”

Bofur scrambles to his feet. “No! No, you can't turn back now! You two are part of the Company!”

“We aren't though, are we? Thorin said we should never have come, and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins, and Cassia is just too young for  this. We never should have left home.”

“You're homesick,” Bofur says, “I understand.”

“No!” Bilbo hisses, “no! You don't! None of you do! You're dwarves! You're used to  _ this _ life! To this danger! My sister almost  _ died _ !” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I just… I can't have her die because of my own desire to go off and be stupid.”

Bofur smiles sadly. “No, you're right.” He glances back at his cousin and brother. “It's scary to almost lose someone you love.” He meets Bilbo's eyes, giving a soft smile. “I wish you two all the luck in the world. I really do.”

“Thank you,” Bilbo answers.

Bofur frowns suddenly, pointing at Bilbo's sword.

“What's that?”

Bilbo glances down at it, drawing it partially, frowning at the blue glow.

“Up!” Thorin hisses, “get up!” And everyone stumbles into wakefulness. But it's too late. The very ground splits beneath them and they're all falling, down through a long tunnel and out in to a cage.

“Look out!” Someone cries and then suddenly they're beset on every side by creatures. Cassia thinks they may be Goblins, she isn't sure.

Fili grabs at her arm, but is torn away. “Get your hands off her!” He shouts, grabbing a knife from somewhere and stabbing wildly. He reaches her and grabs her hand and she clings to his arm. They're hustled along caverns and wooden walkways and it's all he can do to keep hold of her. 

They're ushered out into a platform and sitting before them on a massive chair is the hugest, fattest, most grotesque being Cassia's ever laid eyes on. It's (his?) skin is mottled yellow and covered in sores, leaking pus and other nasty things. Stringy hair hangs around its face and a crown of bones rests upon its brow. He (it?) is singing except is more like yowling, about torture and crushing and other nasty things.

“Catchy, isn't it?” The Goblin King asks, “it's one of my own compositions!”

Cassia frowns and leans towards Fili, “it's a little pitchy.”

“That's not a song,” Balin says, “that's an abomination!”

“That's all you'll find down here,” the great goblin says. More goblins dump the Company's weapons at his feet. “Who would so bold as to come armed into my Kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassin's?!”

“Dwarves, your malevolence,” one of the beasts says. “We found them on the front porch.”

“Dwarves?! Well, don't just stand there! Search them! Every crack, every crevice!”

Goblin hands are suddenly all over Cassia, touching her in places she very much does not like. “Hands off!!!” She yelps, catching one in the gut with her foot and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Don't touch her!!!” Fili roars, striking out. The other dwarves fight the goblins off from her, bloodying noses and cracking a few limbs. The Goblin King reaches over their heads, grabs her by the back of the shirt and hoists her into the air.

“Cassia! No!” Fili shouts, reaching out and missing her by mere centimeters.

“What's this? Too soft and pale to be a dwarf! What are you?!”

“I'm a hobbit!”  She shouts, wriggling angrily. “Let go of me!”

“Hobbit? Never heard of a Hobbit before! Sounds like dwarven lies!”

“I'm not lying! Let go!” She kicks out and catches him in the nose, and he yelps and drops her like a hot potato. 

Someone, maybe Bifur, grabs her and she's suddenly surrounded by her dwarves once more.

“If they will not talk,” the goblin says, “we'll make them squawk! Bring up the Mangler! Bring up the Bonebreaker! Start with the hobbit!”

Cassia gulps. Fili grabs her hand and she glances at him. There's a look in his eye that says he won't let anything touch her, and it makes her shoulders relax slightly.

“Wait!” Thorin says, stepping forward.

“Well, well, well,” the Goblin King jeers, “look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thrór, King Under The Mountain.” he bows mockingly. “But wait! You don't have a Mountain, do you? And you're not a King, which makes you no one, really.”

Thorin raises his chin proudly.

“I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head,” the Goblin King continues, “just the head. Nothing attached. Perhaps you know of who I speak? An old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc. Astride a white warg.”

“Azog the Defiler was slain in battle long ago,” Thorin says. “he was destroyed.” 

“So you think is Defiling days are done, are they?” The Goblin King turns to one of his subjects. “Send word to the Pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize.”

The goblins mill around again, reaching and tearing and chattering and shrieking. Cassia clutches at Fili's fingers and he rubs his thumb over the back of her hand. She's thankful that the goblins seem to have forgotten about her.

The Goblin King starts singing again as great, nasty-looking contraptions are brought up, machines whose uses Cassia can only guess at, and all the guesses are awful. Goblins snatch at her and her friends again, the dwarves saying rude things in Khuzdul. Fili shakes off more hands and pulls Cassia against his chest, and then suddenly several goblins cry out and Orcrist is thrown to the ground, partly unsheathed.

The Goblin King rears back, clambering on to his throne. “I know that sword!” He cries, “it is the Goblin-Cleaver! The Biter! The Blade That Sliced A Thousand Necks! Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!”

Cassia gasps as just behind her, Thorin is being wrestled to the ground. There's nothing she can do, as she's being yanked and pulled. Fili cries out for his uncle, but doesn't let go of Cassia, which she's grateful for. It's chaos, dwarves yelling and goblins shrieking, hands clawing and jaws biting. And then, there's a great white light and a force that's like a thousand raging winds and Gandalf is standing there before them. And truly, Cassia has never seen a more beautiful sight.

“Fight!” Gandalf roars. 

Fili grabs Cassia and pulls her to her feet. 

“Don't let go of me!” He tells her, snatching her sword as it's thrown towards them. He drags her along behind him as they run. Most of the goblins are thrown out of her way by the others. Sometimes Kili grabs her other hand and the two brothers lifts her up over cracks and dead goblins. A few times goblins sneak close to them or grab at Fili and Cassia, and she strikes out, cutting off a few hands and fingers. 

“Cut the ropes!” Thorin roars, and the whole pathway they’re standing upon falls. Goblins on ropes swing around and the dwarves make quick work of them all.

There's more running and then they're all on a swinging platform. Fili throws her off into Gandalf's arms. The wizard catches her easily. The platform begins to swing back. 

“Fili! Jump!” Kili yells. The older brother leaps at the last second, barely dragged to safety.

Gandalf sets Cassia back down on her feet again. “Come on! Quickly now!” He cries, taking off once more. Fili grabs one of Cassia's arms and Kili grabs the other and the pull her along. On and on they run, chased by goblins at every step. Cassia trips several times, but the brothers hold her up and keep running. 

They all burst out of the more winding places and on to a bridge and suddenly the Goblin King explodes from the ground. “You thought you could escape me?” He jeers, and swings his scepter at Gandalf. Cassia yelps as the wizard falls back, caught by Ori and Nori.

“What are you going to do now, wizard?”

Gandalf surges forward and jabs the Goblin King in the face with his staff and slices him open with Glamdring.

“That'll do it,” the monster says. Gandalf cuts his throat. 

Then, the whole bridge crumbles and the bottom of the world just seems to fall away and they're sliding down the rocks as if on a great sled. Only much more dangerous and with far more goblins. Fili braces himself against a support and pulls Cassia against his side. There's a lot of yelling and screaming as they slide, from everyone (except perhaps Gandalf and Thorin, who are much too important to scream) and then they stutter to a slow, caught between two rocks, and hit the ground with a jarring thud. Cassia is spared from being hit by most of the debris by Fili's body, thankfully. Her lack of dwarven sturdiness puts his in greater danger of injury, so Gandalf grabs her by the back of the shirt (rather like the Goblin King had, but much gentler) and sets her down away from the rubble.

“Well,” Bofur says, “that could have been worse!”

The Goblin King's corpse lands atop the dwarves, immediately proving him wrong, and they all cry out.

“Gandalf!!!” Kili shouts, pointing. Above them the goblins swarm down, their clamoring deafening, enraged by the death of their king.

“There's too many of them!” Dwalin cries, “we can't fight them!”

“Only one thing will save us now!” Gandalf declares, “daylight!”

And then they’re off again. Cassia is very sure that she's never run this far in all her life, and over such rough terrain. Her feet ache and there's a sharp, stabbing pain in her side, and she just wants to rest, but there's no time for that. The dwarves hustle her along, Fili holding tight to her hand, which he caught again quite readily as they ran. And then there's sunlight in the distance and they burst out into fresh air and the grass is so soft against the soles of her feet, which, she imagines, are covered in cuts, her tough hobbit soles unmatched for sharp stone. 

They stop finally, in a grove of trees, and Cassia falls to the ground, panting.

Fili looks down in surprise. “What's wrong?” He asks anxiously, crouching beside her, “are you hurt?” 

She shakes her head, mouth open, still gasping for air. “Just… just… just need to breathe…” she gets out, flopping back and clutching at her side. “I don't think… I don't think I've ever run…. Run that much… in all my life.”

“You did great,” Kili says, ruffling her hair. 

“Where's Bilbo?” Someone asks, and Gandalf starts. Cassia suddenly no longer cares about the stitch in her side and the burn in her lungs.

“You lost him?!”

“He's still in there!” Cassia says, and scrambles to her feet. “We have to go get him! He's my brother, he's all I have left!”

Fili grabs her by the arm. “You can't just waltz back in there! You can barely stand!”

“Fili, let me go!”

“I thought he was with Dori!”

“I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us,” Nori says.

“Where did he go after that?!” Gandalf shouts, “tell me!”

“I'll tell you what happened,” Thorin growls, “Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since he first stepped out if his door. He is long gone.”

“You be quiet!” Cassia yells, “leave him alone! He didn't even have to come along with you! It's my fault! I wanted to come and he could still be in that stupid cave surrounded by goblins.”

“No!” Bilbo says, stepping out from behind a tree, “he isn't.”

“Bilbo!” He stumbles back as his sister throws herself into his arms.

“Bilbo Baggins!” Gandalf laughs, “I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!”

“We'd given you up!” Kili exclaims.

“How on Earth did you get past the goblins?” Fili asks.

“Well,” Gandalf says, “it doesn't matter.”

“No,” Thorin interrupts, “it matters. Why did you come back? Was it just for your sister?

“Look,” Bilbo says, untangling himself from Cassia, “I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back. Because… because Cassia was right. You don't have one. And everyone deserves a home. Whether you're a company of dwarves,” he turns and ruffles Cassia's hair, “or a Hobbit lass without parents. It was taken from you. And I will help you take it back. If I can.” 

There's a silence, and then it's very quickly disrupted by Wargs howling, far too close for comfort. 

“Out of the frying pan,” Thorin says.

“And into the fire,” Gandalf finishes. “Run. Run!!!”

Cassia whimpers, but hurries off after her brother. Fili's alongside her, keeping pace, and shoots her a concerned look. She envies his dwarven hardiness. At least now they're going downhill. She stumbles, her legs refusing to move, and Fili grabs her around the waist and heaves her over his shoulder. 

“Sorry about this,” he says.

“I-its fine,” she replies, holding tight to his shoulders. They stop, suddenly, and she twists around.

“Up!” Gandalf cries, “up into the trees, all of you!”

Fili lifts Cassia and she grabs a branch and pulls herself up with ease born of practice, clambering up into the foliage. He scrambles up beside her.

“You're good at this,” he remarks. She opens her mouth to reply, but spots Bilbo still on the ground.

“Bilbo!” She shouts, “get up here! Hurry!”

The other hobbit scales another tree with ease. “You're  _ both _ good at this,” Fili says. “Wouldn't have thought you'd be very good at this.”

“Running or tree-climbing?” She asks as the wargs burst out of the forest.

“Both.”

“Thanks,” she replies drily. 

The orcs and wargs turn as another comes into view, his skin pale and the fur of his Warg white.

“I-is that…?” she whispers.

Kili shakes his head. “It must be.”

“Azog.” Thorin says.

The Pale Orc says something in his own language, his eyes fixed on Thorin as he says his name. The beast points with his mace, and shouts, and the Wargs surge forward, leaping at the trees, clawing and digging, and the pines shudder. Cassia clings tightly to her branch.

The tree falls, then, and she yelps. Fili grabs her around the waist. “Hold on!” He cries, leaping to the next tree. Finally, they're all on the last tree overlooking the precipice. 

“Fili! Cassia!” Gandalf cries, “catch!” A flaming pinecone drops down into her hands. She glances at it, and then the orcs below, and catches the wizard's drift. Cassia rears back and throws it hard. It hits an orc in the face and drops to the underbrush, catching the dry heather up instantly. Gandalf drops down other pinecones and they're all throwing them, then. And for a brief, brilliant moment, the orcs back off. Victory is near.

And then the pine tree lurches.

And falls sideways.

Cassia decides that she's had quite enough of hanging over unfathomable drops. She clings tightly to her branch, Fili swinging beside her. 

Dori calls Gandalf, Cassia turns to spot the dwarf and his youngest brother fall. Gandalf reaches out with his staff and Dori grabs it just in time. 

“Uncle, no!” Fili cries, and she jerks back around to spot the dwarf king charging down the tree trunk towards Azog.

The White Warg hits Thorin and he goes down hard. Cassia screams.

“No!” Balin yells.

“Uncle!” Fili yells again, scrambling up, only to slip down again.

Azog roars, swinging his mace. His Warg chomps down around Thorin's middle. And then, there's another figure standing on the tree trunk. 

Bilbo.

Cassia screams again as her brother runs towards the orcs. “Bilbo! No!”

She scrambles up on the the trunk, finally and runs after him.

She knows it's stupid. But he's her  _ brother _ . And he's only here because of her, and if he dies, she has no one. And Thorin… well, he may not be very nice, and he says a lot of harsh things, but he just wants a home. He wants his family to have a home. And she understands that.

So when Bilbo hits the orc threatening Thorin with a flying tackle, she runs to the Dwarf King. He's unconscious, or in the area at least, and his head lolls when she slings his arm over her shoulder.

“C'mon,” she grunts, he's awfully heavy, “you can't die here, you haven't gotten your mountain back!”

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots an orc creeping towards them, and then a massive eagle swoops down and grabs Thorin right out from beside her, his oaken shield falling at her feet. She picks it up, because it seemed wrong that he not have his namesake, and then she's swooped up in a different eagle’s claws and dropped on to soft feathers just behind her brother.

“Oh,” she says softly as the eagle flaps it's massive wings. “This is new.” She clutches at Bilbo's cost as the bird makes a banking turn. 

They fly for a long while, over mountains and valleys and it's  _ glorious _ . Or it would be, if she wasn't so worried about Thorin.

 

The eagles set them down upon a high rock on the mountains. Cassia thanks their bird and then hurries after her brother to Thorin, who's still laying very still. She adjusts her grip in the oaken branch, and watches as Gandalf places his hand on the dwarf's forehead and murmurs. Thorin's eyelids flutter.

She's about to go closer when suddenly Fili grabs her by the shoulder and swings her into a tight hug.

“Do me a favor,” he mutters into her hair, “and never do that again.” 

Cassia drops Thorin's shield and hugs Fili back. “Will I give you a heart attack, old man?” she teases. He pulls back to look her in the eye, smiling a little. 

“Yes. You don't want that, do you?”

She shakes her head. “Sorry to worry you.” He leans down and nuzzles his nose to hers.

That's… oddly cute, and she blushes. He jerks back, as if he's just noticed what he's done, just as red as her.

“Sorry,” he says, releasing her from his arms and stepping back. “I didn't mean to.”

“Fili,” she starts, but he's already hurried off, leaving her wondering at the significance of his action.


End file.
